Monday, April 28, 2008

*(Thanks to chum Karl Heitmuller for pointing out that DC owes me money. Also thanks to Karl for having as cool a name as "Karl Heitmuller", which is almost as cool a name as my doctor has, being named "Doctor Knoepflmacher". Seriously.)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I enjoyed your book when you were talking about LUKE CAGE and stuff, but around page 300

I just got bored.

And you know what? I was kind of enjoying the OMEGA THE UNKNOWN book you were helping out on, but now I'm finding that kind of boring too.

And also, earlier this week, I saw the collected OMEGA THE UNKNOWN, the original Steve (BABY) Gerber series, at the Strand, and I didn't get it, but later realized I wanted it, and when I went back, it wasn't there. Too late! Bought by someone else!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

I've been reading woodcut novels lately (many of which were given to me as birthday gifts by regular blog-reader and dear friend JOHN HERTEL), and if you're a comics fan, I highly recommend you pick up a few as well. The precursor to the modern graphic novel, most of these wordless books were completed between the first and second world wars. While they range from emotionally potent to downright corny, on the whole they show a generous amount of inventiveness.Lynd Ward's work is probably the most famous of the woodcut novelists, and I've read a few of his books, GOD'S MAN, MADMAN'S DRUM and a couple of others, but while I marvel at his technical facility as a draftsman, I find his stories somewhat overwrought, simplistic and occasionally hard to follow.

Personally, I much prefer the work of Frans Masareel. His novels like THE CITY, PASSIONATE JOURNEY and THE SUN read much more like poetry, or even a visualization of music, rather than as prose. I love reading his work--I've never read anything like it before.

His work, along with Ward's, is reprinted in GRAPHIC WITNESS, a compilation of some of the best woodcut novels. Also reprinted in the book are novels by Giacomo Patri (the exceptional WHITE COLLAR) and Laurence Hyde (SOUTHERN CROSS).

SOUTHERN CROSS has also been reprinted in the past year by Drawn and Quarterly in quite a beautiful edition, and it's well worth getting. Like Ward, Hyde attempts to tell a complex and structured story, and while it's operatic in its tone, it actually succeeds in being emotionally potent. I've found his work, and particularly the work of Masareel to be quite inspiring.

After finishing Season 1 of the VENTURES, I stayed on at the producing studio (Noodle Soup, now known as World Leaders Entertainment) to storyboard and co-design FRESH SPINS. This was a direct to video retelling of RUMPLESTILTSKIN. The designs you see here were variations on drawings done by Pixar's BILL PRESING, who was the original board artist on the production.I've never seen the completed cartoon, but I am fond of these pitch drawings I came up with.